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YapStone is raising $100M to take on PayPal, Stripe in marketplace payments, nabs $71M so far

While a part of the fintech world remains abuzz with crypo-talk, a startup that’s built a business around the more traditional world of payments has raised a significant round of funding as it vies to take on the likes of PayPal, Stripe, Adyen and Dwolla. [ Tech Crunch ]

25 VC firms investing in female-founded companies

Since the start of 2006, three venture capital firms—500 Startups, NEA and Golden Seeds—have closed more than 100 deals apiece backing female-founded companies in the US. Twenty-five investors have closed more than 50 deals each.

As a follow-up to our recent content on women in VC, including our interactive map of investment in female-founded companies and articles on whether female founders get better results and closing the gender funding gap, we've highlighted the investors who have most actively funded companies with at least one woman founder. [ PitchBook ]

Q&A: Modsy's founder on how building a startup is different the second time around​

These days, Shanna Tellerman is best known as the founder of Modsy, a startup that helps users decorate their homes without spending a fortune on traditional interior designers. The company's tech allows customers to take photos of rooms they'd like to decorate, then uses 3D graphics and visualization technology to put together renderings of potential designs, complete with information on how to purchase the featured furniture and accessories. Modsy has now raised about $34 million in total VC funding, including a $23 million Series B, which closed this past December and valued the company at roughly $69 million. [ PitchBook ]

Homebrew is raising $90 million for third seed-stage fund

Homebrew, the seed-stage venture capital firm whose portfolio companies include Chime and TheSkimm, is raising $90 million for its third fund, per an SEC filing. A source close to the situation says a final close is imminent, with most of the commitments coming from existing limited partners.

Bottom line: It's still a bit too early to judge Homebrew from a returns perspective (despite some promising investments), so this fundraise reflects LP belief that the San Francisco-based firm has stuck to the strategy it originally promised. [ Axios ]

Just Working Harder Won’t Get You Ahead. Working Smarter Will.

At an old job, I worked with a person I had been following for years and whose work I deeply admired. He’s not much older than I am, and we had worked in similar-ish jobs, but he just seemed so much better than I was at the time.

After a few months of working with him, it became obvious why that was: A crazy work ethic and drive, yes, but he had figured out what to do and how to react in situations that would’ve left me stumped. It seemed like he had a playbook for every scenario, and the next move was automatic. (He’s still freakishly good at his job, and we’re still friends, if you’re wondering.) [ NY Times ]

The Impact Of Blockchain On SaaS

Much of the conversation today about crypto is about Bitcoin and currency. But that’s myopic. Soon, we will be talking about how crypto will change the software world. In fact, many founders have already started that pursuit. More than 30% of the initial coin offerings (ICO) in 2017 target developers and businesspeople with their products.  The numbers are still small. B2B crypto companies raised about $400M of ICO dollars in 2017. B2D companies commanded $1.2B. This distribution reflects the early stage of the ecosystem.

The blockchain is a technical advance. Consequently, it should initially appeal to developers more than their business counterparts. The data reflects this. Enterprise software has three layers: infrastructure, platform and application. Today, much of the effort is focused on infrastructure and platforms. Within the 200 ICOs I analyzed, there are tens of next-generation infrastructure players and a twenty or more platforms-as-a-service. [ TOMASZ TUNGUZ ]

The Co-Inventor of BlackBerry Is Building Canada’s Quantum Brain Trust

It’s early days for quantum computers, the still mostly theoretical subatomic processors so powerful they can make our fastest supercomputer look like an abacus. Mike Lazaridis, the co-inventor of the BlackBerry, says that when it comes to quantum technology, he’s learned his lesson. He won’t be iPhoned again. [ Bloomberg ]

Here’s What Happens to a Startup After a Sexual Harassment Scandal

BetterWorks Systems Inc. isn’t a well-known name in Silicon Valley, but the startup achieved a moment of infamy last year that it hasn’t been able to shake. A former employee sued the company in July, claiming the chief executive officer sexually harassed and assaulted her and that management failed to take proper disciplinary action. The allegations were levied as the #MeToo movement was mushrooming, and the fallout at BetterWorks was widespread. [ Bloomberg ]

Tom Brady, Michael Strahan and Gotham Chopra are launching a new sports media startup

The Super Bowl is over and the stadiums across the country that once held thousands of fans on any given Sunday will be mostly empty in the off-season, but Tom Brady is still at work. The quarterback who will undeniably go down in NFL history as one of the greatest of all time is already thinking about his next act. Alongside Michael Strahan (another football great who has made the transition into pop cultural icon) and Gotham Chopra — the producer, director and former war correspondent — Brady is launching a new sports media startup.

Called The Religion of Sports, the new startup, which is seeking around $3 million in outside capital, is neither The Players’ Tribune, Derek Jeter’s media platform for athletes to tell their own stories, nor TraceMe, Russell Wilson’s access-focused app for athletes and celebrities. [ TechCrunch ]

Telstra-backed accelerator muru-D unveils fifth Sydney program cohort

Now in its fifth year, Telstra-backed accelerator program muru-D is still going strong, with the program running in Sydney, Melbourne, and Singapore, and as the River City Labs Accelerator in Brisbane and Plus Eight in Perth. As the Brisbane program gears up for demo day in April and the selection process for the Perth program gets underway, the fifth Sydney cohort of Telstra-backed accelerator program muru-D has been revealed.

According to Julie Trell, head of muru-D, the program received 20 percent more applications compared to 2017, with the number of applications from female founders also rising 20 percent; six of the 10 teams accepted have a woman on the founding team. [ StartUp Daily ]

Leuko Labs Wins Regional East Coast Competition at MIT Venture Capital + Innovation Conference

A billboard system that recognizes and analyzes cars before displaying an ad. A device that patients can take home to monitor their white cell counts. A therapy model for stroke patients using augmented reality. These were among the seven startup proposals heard last Friday Feb. 9th by a panel of judges at the MIT Sloan School of Management, during the 20th edition of the MIT Venture Capital + Innovation Conference.

The contestants were competing for a spot in the final round of the Startup World Cup, in which every regional winner will compete for one million dollars to fund their project. After the seven presentations at MIT — each lasting around 10 minutes including questions from the judges — Leuko Labs was chosen as the winner. [ BU News Service ]

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California legislator introduces bill to regulate how Silicon Valley uses your data​

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Brokerage App Robinhood Thinks Bitcoin Belongs in Your Retirement Plan

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China's Love of Live-Streaming Makes Ex-Journalist a Billionaire